Winnica Kamil Barczentewicz

I am in Krakow for the second time in my life. The first was some years ago, when I came with Simona to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. For me, entering the site of the largest death factory of the Nazi regime is something every human being should experience.

On that visit, I experienced a violent, almost visceral reaction to the threat posed by transforming hatred into ideology, which reaffirmed, ever more strongly, my belief that knowledge of our past should make us responsible for our future.

This time, however, I only stay in the city for a couple of days. Partly to reminisce and partly to revel in the idea of the final destination awaiting me, together with a Riesling that I will remember for the rest of my days.

Setting off once more, I drive for four hours heading towards Ukraine, on to Lublin and the bucolic area of Dobre: a route along one of the main arteries crossing through Poland, where the myriad facets of an ever-changing landscape unfold before you at a surreal and fascinating speed.

After a series of bends, winding their way through the tall grass like a snake, my destination appears. With its clean lines, natural materials and sloping roofs, it is a meticulously designed reference to the typical dwellings of an ancestral Poland.

The espresso that Kamil proudly prepares for me is perhaps one of the best I have ever tasted abroad and he knows it. We can’t begin our acquaintance without a really good cup of Italian coffee. - he tells me.

On putting down our cups, we climb aboard one of the Defenders from Kamil's father's collection and head straight to the vineyard. As I shut the door, the sound of the sheet metal slamming shut resonates within me like the siren song of Ulysses and there I am: enraptured. Like a click activating all my receptors.

The vineyards is located close to the winery and, for a few minutes, we toil up the slopes of a limestone hill, between endless rows of vines and soil whose typology changes completely in just a few hundred metres. Everything begins with and depends on the terroir! - shouts Kamil to me, over the deafening sound of stones banging and clattering under the Defender.
We began in 2019. In 11.5 hectares, I found one of the best areas in the whole of Poland for growing grapes. The exposure is perfect, the River Vistula, which flows only three kilometres away, influences the ever-changing weather and the diversity of mineral soils determines the complex taste of the wines.

Chardonnay, Bläufrankisch, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir are the varieties cultivated by Kamil, and all with the utmost respect for where he lives and with for the surrounding nature. Here, they only practice organic farming

Clay and limestone soils alternate in a kaleidoscopic dance. At the top of the hill, though, the terrain is so sandy that billowing clouds of dust are raised with every step. One moment it feels like walking on the white rocks of Greece and the next your shoes are full of sand like in Al-'Ula, Saudi Arabia.

As we slowly make our way back to the winery, Kamil explains to me that the most difficult aspect of his project is the development of a wine culture. Remember that until 2009, it was forbidden to produce wine for trade in Poland. Only since that year has wine been allowed to be produced for sale. We do not have the historicity and culture of countries like Italy and France. The entire Polish production is perhaps comparable to that of the smallest Tuscan municipality. It is a whole new world for us. - he tells me.

This is why, from the very outset of his project, Kamil began travelling the world in search of his own, personal style. He spent his first wine season in Austria, six months later went to Chile, and then acquired knowledge of oenology and viticulture in Bordeaux. Fascinated by Pinot Noir, he continued his research in Burgundy before moving on to Italy. 

Kamil's whole family is involved in his project and the contribution of his mother, an architecture graduate, can be immediately be appreciated as soon as you cross the threshold into the winery. From the optimal use of space, to the use of exclusively natural materials, this place proudly speaks the Polish language and represents its soul.

From the very first steps of the stairs leading down to the barrel room, I am enveloped by an intoxicating scent wafting up towards me.  

To welcome me, I find a cellar whose barrels are made of Slovenian oak, Hungarian oak and French oak, carefully used to allow diversification of the scents transmitted to the wine. As in Burgundy, Kamil uses wood in a way that is not intrusive: it is like a gentle caress.

As we ascend in the freight elevator, the music coming from upstairs beckons ever more hypnotically. Her back turned, lulled by the music, Ania is intent at work on a new ceramic vase. We are in her studio: an outspoken extension of her soul, where her husband's presence is visible in some empty bottles of Barbaresco resting in a corner. Incense, soft music and peace: this is how Ania brings form to her work.

Kamil's mother really has thought everything through to perfection. The room we’re in for the tasting is flooded with wonderful natural light, which pervades the room through a huge glass wall overlooking the vineyards. In tasting the wines, I can see the very vines they originate from. Here all the senses are awakened and stimulated.

The tasting is indelibly etched in my mind. The joviality with which we share these two hours is of rare spontaneity and Kamil is a perfect host, who leaves nothing to chance. A few tasters of kosher cuisine paired with our glasses is a mere prelude to the gargantuan lunch we are to savour later.

When I ask him how many labels he produces, he replies, almost confused: Because I am still experimenting, in all honesty, I couldn’t really hazard a guess.

I can only thank him for these experiments of his. Only in the Azores have I been so surprised. Identitary and unique wines from an area we are not generally given to thinking of for wine production. I was quite literally astounded. 

The Pinot Blanc Beton is surprising as, with great elegance and roundness, it unleashes all the minerality of the soil it originates from.
The Pinot Noir Rose enticed me like the very best of seducers. Full-bodied and complex, in the mouth it has a decisive, mineral character with a long and minerally finish.
The Pinot Noir made me think I was drinking a French wine bearing a Polish passport. Elegant, lively and ripe, it is a real revelation. 

However, more than anything else, it is the Riesling that has mesmerised me like a snake charmer. Full and juicy, with sweet aromas in the foreground, it retains an excellent freshness. In the mouth, it is well structured, creamy and minerally, with a consistently high acidity. The finish is very long, leaving a full, juicy sensation in the mouth, with an amazing fruity finish.

I couldn't stop tasting it, trying it, interpreting it, understanding it.

It is astounding that wines of this quality come from vines planted no more than five years ago. The real surprise will be to see what happens when they begin to age.

I can’t stop thinking about the hours I’ve just spent with this amazing couple. Watching them talk to each other, I realise that it’s these moments I am most grateful for in my work. Getting to know people from all over the world, each with unique stories to tell and lives that are as inspiring as they are instructive. Brought together by an infinite passion and the desire to share the fruits of that passion with others.

Pioneers, dreamers and idealists who only listen to their inner selves and chart new courses. Unknown and unexplored routes to new worlds.

I am honoured to have met Kamil and Ania and to have laid the foundations for what I believe I can call a beautiful friendship.